Apr 12th 2013, @ Yomiuri

Tonight many Swallows fans were hoping that the return of two Swallows would help right the ship. It was the 1st team season debut for Balentien and Roman and it was the first time the two Tokyo teams faced off this season.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Swallows

1

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

3

8

0

Giants

0

2

0

0

0

5

0

1

X

8

13

0

W: Houlton (2-0; 3.00 ERA) L: Roman (0-1; 8.44 ERA)

Unfortunately for the Swallow faithful, the bad luck did not disappear. Balentien was 0 for 4 with a walk. While Roman took the loss.

Swallows

Batting order

Giants

Milledge (LF)

1

Chono (RF)

Kawashima (SS)

2

Matsumoto (CF)

Balentien (RF)

3

Sakamoto (SS)

Hatakeyama (1B)

4

Abe (C)

Iwamura (3B)

5

Murata (3B)

Tanaka (2B)

6

Bowker (LF)

Yuhei (CF)

7

Lopez (1B)

Nakamura (C)

8

Wakiya (2B)

Roman (P)

9

Houlton (P)

Things looked bright very early in tonight’s game. Milledge lead off the game with a solo HR to give the Birds the early lead. 1 – 0 Tokyo

The Giants would reclaim the lead in the bottom of the second on a 2-run HR from Bowker. 2 – 1 Yomiuri

After a few quite innings, Tokyo would take back the lead in the top of the 6th. Yuhei, who was a double away from hitting for the cycle on the night, would hit a 2-run shot. Giving Tokyo a one run advantage. 3 – 2 Tokyo

However, with Yuhei, you have to take the good with the bad. His misplaying of a Sakamoto fly in the bottom of the 6th inning was the start of a 5 run inning. After Sakamoto, reached base, Abe knocked him in to tie the game. 3 – 3

Yuhei misjudges a Sakamoto fly.

After a Murata single, Roman’s evening was done. In came Kyuko to face Bowker. Bowker, already responsible for two of the Giants runs, added to that tally in the 6th. He hit a 3-run shot off of Kyuko to give the Giants a lead they would not relinquish. 6 – 3 Yomiuri

Of course, the Giants were not done in the inning. Up next was Lopez. He followed Bowker’s lead and hit a solo shot to left. 7 – 3 Yomiuri

The Giants would add one more run in the bottom of the 8th to complete the scoring. 8 – 3 Yomiuri

Game notes:

In keeping with the times, Yomiuri wore their creamsicle alternative uniforms for this game. If you needed anymore reason to hate the Giants, look no further:

Creamsicles

Attendance for this evenings game: 45,319

The game lasted 3 hours and 8 minutes

Although Roman took the loss, he pitched relatively well. His only real mistake was the 2-run HR he gave up to Bowker in the 2nd inning.

Tomorrow will be the 2nd game of this series. Scheduled starters are Ishikawa for Tokyo and Sugano for Yomiuri. Game time is 2 pm

Spread the Word!

Scott is an avid fan of the underdog. He spent his childhood cheering for the Chicago White Sox and hating all teams from New York. Once he moved to Tokyo, he quickly directed this same hatred toward the tenants of the Tokyo Dome. Thus began his support of the Swallows (and anyone playing against the indoor Tokyo team).
In his mind, there is not a better place to be than at Jingu stadium watching the Swallows from the bleachers, drinking a nice cold drink, and cheering along with the extremely knowledgeable Swallows fans.